Agriculture

Fall has arrived with two threats of frost so far (but none that materialized for the farm.) Frost is inevitable, of course, it happens every year, so let’s get organized for the return of our tropical to the not-so-great indoors.

The lush plants that spent the summer out on the patio or are now faced with a less than ideal existence indoors…but there are some things we can do (including lowering our expectations in some cases) to help them get through the winter in the healthiest way possible.

New program for beef producers opens at Shelby extension office

The Shelby County Extension Office will be the site of the opening session of a new program called Master Stocker, which is open to any beef producer who is involved in or interested in raising stocker cattle.  

Master Stocker includes eight classroom sessions covering topics that will improve your understanding of best management recommendations for stocker and backgrounding operations.  

A Voice-Tribune reader recently asked about the worms in her chestnuts, Well, I am afraid I am in the same boat. We have chestnut weevils.

I love our nut grove for a multitude of reasons: It shelters our meat chickens that are ranging freely in its shade; and the sheep graze and even munch on fallen nut meat. In other areas we collect pecans and Chinese chestnuts among other offerings. The pecans are clean as a whistle this year, but the chestnuts are a bust.

The apple orchard has been picked clean. Some have gone to our Courtney Farms Fruit CSA subscribers, some are now applesauce, some are frozen, and loads are now dried and sitting patiently on the shelf until the dead of winter (we are not allowed to eat them until all fresh are eaten).

Our attention now turns to some other native fruit treats as the season winds downs. The persimmons have ripened at a faster pace than usual, and I suspect that it was the early spring warm up combined with some chilly nights in the last week or two.